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Cream Cheese Soup--No. 2
Stir together in a saucepan 2 scant cupfuls of flour, a pint of rich cream, 4 tablespoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese, and the same amount of butter, with a sprinkling of cayenne. Set the saucepan in a pan of hot water and stir until it forms a smooth paste. Break 2 eggs into the mixture, stir briskly until thoroughly blended; and let it cook five minutes, and set it away to cool. Form the cool paste into balls about the size of a walnut, drop them into boiling water, and cook five minutes. Put them in the soup tureen, pour over them boiling stock, and serve at once with a dish of grated Parmesan.
Despite the name, this is not a pureed soup: it is a batch of Parmesan dumplings poached in water and served in clear broth. The paste is the whole job, and it wants a double boiler and patience.
- The hinge: cook the paste until it leaves the panThe hinge: cook the paste until it is smooth and thick -- Over hot (not boiling) water the flour hydrates slowly, so keep stirring until the mass is smooth and holds together. A paste stopped too soon may disintegrate in the poaching water.
- Flour to cream proportionTwo scant cups of flour to a pint (2 cups) of cream gives a very thick paste, stiff enough for the balls to hold their shape. If it seizes into something unworkable, hold back part of the flour rather than adding liquid later.
- "Set the saucepan in a pan of hot water"A bain-marie: a heatproof bowl over barely simmering water. This is deliberate insurance against scorching the cream and flour, and it is worth keeping even though a heavy modern pan over low heat would also work.
- Adding the eggsThe recipe has the eggs go into the hot paste and then cook five minutes; work them in and stir briskly as directed, so they blend into the paste rather than set in threads.
- Poaching, not boiling hardA rolling boil knocks the balls apart. Bring salted water to a boil, drop the balls in, then hold it at a bare simmer for the five minutes given; they are done when they float and feel set through.
- Test one firstPoach a single ball before shaping the rest. If it breaks up, work another spoonful or two of flour into the paste.
- The stock matters more than the recipe admitsThe dumplings are only lightly seasoned, so much depends on the broth poured over them. Use a clear chicken or beef stock, seasoned before it goes into the tureen, since there is no chance to correct it afterwards.
- Cheese and cayenneParmesan here means a hard aged grating cheese; buy a wedge and grate it yourself, as pre-grated tubs are usually treated with an anti-caking agent. The cayenne is a background warmth -- the recipe says only "a sprinkling" -- not a chili note.
- YieldThe quantities are large, giving well over two dozen walnut-sized dumplings; the paste is set aside to cool before shaping, as the recipe directs.